Elon Musk continued to donate to the GOP, giving a further $5mn to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC in mid December, per filings. Definitely back in the Trump tent.

Coming up on @ms.now with Katy Tur to talk Trump pardons

Dozens of agents spent years bringing Juan Orlando Hernández to justice for flooding US cities with cocaine, only for Trump to pardon him with a social media post. They, and other US law enforcement officials, are fuming. More from @kayewiggins.ft.com, Stefania Palma and I.

All these people just willingly revealing they use Spotify.

What fresh hell? Why are viewers of UK coverage having to put up with Aussie scoring?!

The AI lobby lost 99-1 in the Senate this summer. Now it is back with a $100mn war chest and a new campaign for a ban on state-level regulation, which is already enraging Maga populists. Me in today's FT: on.ft.com/4prXzFH

“We have to understand that in 2025, that evil person . . . has an audience of several million people,” says Heritage Foundation boss Kevin Roberts of the Holocaust-denying Nick Fuentes. My piece on the mutiny within Maga on.ft.com/3WNZo3p

NEW: A little-known drone company backed by Donald Trump Jr has won its largest-ever contract from the Pentagon. on.ft.com/49iybgw

Here is what Elon Musk’s Grok tells users about our investigation. I’ll leave it to others to decide if this is an accurate summation.

Spent the last few weeks working on these two Trump investigations, alongside a crack FT team. First one on the $1bn crypto haul

How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto on.ft.com/4olkLoi

*fewer

Maga vs AI: Trump’s Big Tech courtship risks a backlash on.ft.com/4niyITy

In a uniquely bad-tempered US Open, Tommy Paul has stood out for his grace and sportsmanship. I’m a fan.

TONIGHT: @joemillerjr.ft.com talks to @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com on The #LastWord at 10pm ET.

Sad to witness the decline of FT's Bracken House HQ, where the cricket is not being broadcast on one of the main screens.

NEW: Financier Don Wilson invested $100mn in the Trump family’s flagship bitcoin project just nine weeks after a probe into his crypto business was dropped by the administration. With @antoinegara.bsky.social and Harriet Agnew. on.ft.com/3HCKlVT

The deployment of the National Guard was “clearly done as an authoritarian show of strength”, says @ryanenos.bsky.social “There is no policy reason [why the admin] should be targeting places in LA as opposed to places in red states.” on.ft.com/4kyK7hf

Are Donald Trump and Elon Musk now enemies? @edwardluce.bsky.social on yesterday's contretemps, with a reply from the FT's broligarch correspondent, @joemillerjr.ft.com www.ft.com/content/17a4...

I swear I’m not making this up, @robarmstrong.bsky.social, but my Lyft driver in DC just now brought up the TACO trade, unprompted. Now THAT’S cut through.

TMTG confirms our reporting less than a day after calling the FT "dumb." ir.tmtgcorp.com/news-events/...

Some quotes are too good to cut on.ft.com/4jkssZ0

I started reading this thinking it was about users who *asked* about race and South Africa getting bogus responses. But no, Grok is - ASTONISHINGLY - providing responses on the topic to users who have asked entirely unrelated questions. WILD. By @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social and Cristina Criddle

by @joemillerjr.ft.com and me: what has Doge actually done?

What has Elon Musk’s Doge actually achieved? @joemillerjr.ft.com and @chriscook.news dissect the record here. Dominik Lett, an analyst at the free-market Cato Institute, argues: “Doge should not be seen as a very successful deficit reduction effort.” www.ft.com/content/0854...

on.ft.com/3GMTDhw India and Pakistan: a conflict in the hands of two religious strongmen. Modi and Munir are the topic of today’s @FT Big Read

One of the best arguments for free trade is that tariffs are actually very hard (and expensive) to enforce. Case in point: Chinese manufacturers are already fraudulently undervaluing cargo sent to US; CBP is struggling to keep up. More in today's @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/4iMqpwN

Isn't this something? Mid 17th Century Hebrew/Chinese prayer book, which belonged to the Jews of Kaifeng. mss.huc.edu/phpviewer/in...

JD Vance will visit a Nucor Steel plant in South Carolina in an attempt at "highlighting America's manufacturing renaissance during the first one hundred days of the Trump Administration." Here is that renaissance, in chart form.

Microphone used by Ed Murrow at the BBC to report on the Blitz for CBS, bringing WWII into Americans’ living rooms, and paving the way for US intervention.

"There's been some blowback for the time that I've been spending in government with the Department of Government Efficiency or Doge", says Elon Musk after Tesla's quarterly profits cratered.

Elon Musk has lambasted the architect of Donald Trump’s trade war in the most public display to date of a potential rift between the US president and the world’s richest man www.ft.com/content/a863...

The twilight zone?

The Musk effect?

NEW w/ @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social Elon Musk clearly thinks X users need protection even from the Trump administration... His social media platform wants Scotus to force govt to get a warrant to obtain user data.

Scoop with @stephenfoleyft.bsky.social Trump admin has got some big concessions out of consultancies, in Doge-aligned effort to cut costs. 💰 Three of 10 firms targeted (which include Accenture, Deloitte etc) identified total of $15bn+ in savings enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/1e783...

“In January, Tesla filed a lawsuit against the state in a court in the county over Wisconsin’s refusal to let the carmaker bypass rules for local dealerships. Just days later, Musk’s political vehicles began donating to Wisconsin Republicans, records show.” www.ft.com/content/8ace...

Fascinating piece.

The people vs Elon Musk: billionaire transforms Wisconsin court contest https://www.ft.com/content/8ace0235-151c-4aa8-8b46-5e57bdb19b0c

Thanks for sharing, Mark. Gift link to full piece here on.ft.com/4l4TuWC

SCOOP: Trump admin urged civil servants to consider expanding Starlink's role in $42bn rural broadband scheme - in what would be a potential multi-billion dollar windfall for Elon Musk's company. on.ft.com/3FB9EXo

By me + @joemillerjr.ft.com :: not really possible to see any effects from the DOGE lay-offs and cancellations etc yet. But the returns confirm: you can’t get significant cuts without cutting popular stuff.

The Trump administration plans to expand its blitz against spending on consultants. The ten firms targeted so far will not be the last, we are told. Story with @joemillerjr.ft.com and some great data work by @chriscook.news: www.ft.com/content/8d28...

Elon Musk’s Doge is not happy with government spending on consultants. Great little scoop by @stephenfoleyft.bsky.social @chriscook.news @joemillerjr.ft.com 👉 on.ft.com/4klvr5n

Do any two people have more similar energies than David Cameron and Jeb Bush

"We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is still there."

It's happening... on.ft.com/3D05s2t

Elon Musk sets up clash with Republican deficit hawks over ‘Doge dividend cheques’ https://www.ft.com/content/2a1b5dce-c35d-4006-8ce0-530052abb787

More than 20% of Americans think US spent 20% of its annual budget on USAID; some 60% thought it spent more han 5% In fact, US was spending about 1%...! From: Majority of Americans believe foreign aid ‘wasted on corruption’, survey finds @joemillerjr.ft.com - on.ft.com/3QsXgL3 via @FT

What will Musk’s businesses gain from his proximity to Trump? https://www.ft.com/content/78928872-918b-4ce6-87c7-c6545c9467f8